1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to control of child activities, and particularly to systems, program product, and methods system for managing and controlling computer-based activities of a child over a communication network.
2. Description of Related Art
Significant advancements in computing technology over the last few decades have resulted in a proliferation of computing devices, both in and outside the home. Particularly, such devices are beginning to replace books as a primary means of distributing educational material, making them a necessary part of a child's academic development. Such computing devices, however, arguably since their inception, have also been able to provide computer-based leisure activities, thus making such computing devices capable of both being an educator and a distraction.
It comes as no surprise that children, including adolescents and young adults, are spending more and more time playing stand-alone computer games, internet based games, visiting chat rooms and blogs, and participating in other computer-based leisure activities on such computing devices, at the expense of doing their studies or exploring more educational pursuits. Further, more and more computing devices capable of providing computer-based leisure activities are becoming more portable, with notebook computers, dedicated game boxes, personal digital assistants (PDAs), cellular telephones, and other hand held and/or wireless communication devices, being but a few examples. As such, more parents are finding it difficult to sufficiently monitor or manage their children's activities, particularly those involving using such devices. Unfortunately, due to an apparent societal reliance on such devices, merely taking such devices away would not seem to be either an adequate solution, or one being capable of implementation.
Various systems have been introduced to help balance the children's desire for leisure with their parents' desire for more educational pursuits. For example, various systems have been developed which add educational enhancements to various computer games. Such enhancements can include the incorporation of a flash card module in the game code of the game, which can suspend a game's play by displaying a flash card that must be answered in order to resume game play. Other systems have been developed which utilize a locally resident access filter resident on the computing device to prevent or limit access to computer peripheral input devices required by entertainment programs, while simultaneously allowing unlimited access to such devices for accessing study programs that present study materials. Still other systems utilize a locally resident application usage time limiter program which collectively limits an amount of time spent on certain preconfigured leisure-type application programs.
Still further, other systems have been developed which include a locally resident access control software program installed on the computing device, which monitors the child's computer game play, and periodically, at intervals set by the parent, interrupts the activity to present questions to the child. Upon completion of the questions, the child is allowed by the access control program to return to the play for a period of time determined by the score as configured by the parent. The access control software program also manages a local database of questions stored on a local hardware module and presents them to the child. The questions are created by the parent or downloaded by the parent for storage in the database. The supply of downloaded questions is provided by an exchange server that allows parents to exchange the various questions that they create.
Such system or systems require substantially all of its functionality to be carried out by the locally resident software on the computing device that the child uses to play, including, for example, installation and configuration of the resident access control software program, timing of play periods and interruptions for quizzes, presentation of the questions by the access control software program from the local store of questions, setting of questions customization parameters, storing the questions, collecting and reporting of performance information, and sharing personally created questions with other parents. In such system, configuration of the parameters of the service, e.g., duration of playtime and educational task characteristics, is done by the parent locally on the child's device. That is, configuration is accomplished while the child is not using the computer or other device. Further, adding new configuration parameters would require additional software upgrades and interruption of use. Still further, local storage and management of the questions database, by such systems, limits the type of devices that can support such systems, and places severe constraints on the quantity, variety and flexibility of such presentations. Further, such systems require parents to create the questions and/or relies on other parents to exchange questions, which are downloaded for storage and use locally. Most parents would not, however, be expected to have the ability to develop sufficiently challenging questions at the right level for the particular child.
Accordingly, recognized by Applicants is the need for a system, program product, and methods which provide remote control of parameters, such as timing of play periods and interruptions, to prevent manipulation by the child, to permit greater flexibility of the control parameters, to allow seamless upgrade of control parameters, and to allow real-time control. Also recognized by Applicants is the need for a system, program product, and methods which can allow configuration of those parameters remote from the child's device, at any time, and which can allow adding new configuration parameters, at any time, without the installation of additional software by the parent. Also recognized by Applicants is the need for a system, program product, and methods which provide professionally developed, centrally managed and stored, and appropriately selected educational tasks, tailored to the child.